1. In the space below, describe the stasis at the beginning of Trifles. In other words, “Where are we?” “When is it (time, day, and year)?” “Who are the people involved?” “What is the dramatic situation in which the characters find themselves as the play unfolds?”
The stasis at the beginning of Trifles is a cold farmhouse in 1918 Iowa. The house is owned by a Mr. and Mrs. Wright. With the Intention to ask the Wrights if they wanted a telephone installed in their home, Mr. Hale walks into their home. He sees Mrs. Wright in her rocking chair and is being very inhospitable and acting very weird. While talking to her, he finds out that Mr. Wright is dead up stairs by a noose around his neck. Mr. Hale runs upstairs to confirm what she had told him. Once he finds the body he contacts the Sheriff, and most likely a coroner. Mrs. Wright is taken to the jail while the Sheriff and Court Attorney investigate the house for evidence of who could have done this. As the men are looking for evidence upstairs we find out that the real main characters are the women Ms. Hale, and Ms. Peter. They are there to collect items requested by Mrs. Wright from the jail and to clean up the messy kitchen. They are the ones who actually end up finding the evidence hidden by Mrs. Wright, also known as Minnie Foster Wright.They are the ones who must decide if they should tell the Court Attorney and Sheriff about the evidence or try and help Minnie by disposing of the evidence.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play?
The intrusion is when Ms. Hale finds the dead bird wrapped up in the hidden sewing box. The dramatic action that developed overtime was the ladies hiding both the dead bird and the stitching on the quilts away from the Court Attorney and Sheriff. As the play continued on the Attorney kept asking what Minnie Foster Wright was doing to the quilts. Instead of telling the Court Attorney that her stitching was all over the place, they just told him that she was going to knot it. The Court Attorney couldn't care less about what she was going to do with it. In the end Ms. Hale hides the box in her coat so that the Court Attorney does not have any real evidence against Minnie Foster Wright. Because of the intrusion Ms. Hale was able to possibly save Minnie in her trial.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor which is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
The play takes place in 1918 rural Iowa. It is most likely winter time due to the Wright's house being cold on the inside. By setting the play in this location and time the audience can see how the cold and emptiness of the house can also be seen in Mrs. Wright. The main characters of Trifles see how different Minnie has become over the years because of Mr. Wright. She is a cold empty shell of herself. They realize this and can see where she was in distress and mostly snapped as they look at the stitching and wrapped up dead bird in her sewing box.
4. State the dramatic question or questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
The dramatic question in Trifles is a fairly simple one. Is there any evidence that can be used to connect Minnie Foster Wright to the death of her husband?
5. Use Ms. Hale to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is the dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Trifles the wants of Ms. Hale change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles for Ms. Hale.
Ms. Hale has to face both the me against myself and the me against society. At first she faces the me against myself obstacle. She must overcome her thoughts about how if she had just visited more often then maybe things would have turned out differently. She puts part of the blame on herself because she was scared to come visit the Wrights which probably made Minnie feel like she was all alone during her hard times. Ms. Hale also faces the me against society obstacle by realizing that if she gives the evidence to the Court Attorney then Minnie will face a unfair trial. She realizes that the society she is in favors men only. She overcomes this by hiding the evidence thus giving Minnie a chance to walk free.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. Identify the most theatrical moments in Trifles.
The first theatrical moment occurs when Mr. Hale finds the body of Mr. Wright with a noose around his neck. Followed by Ms. Hale and Ms. Peters finding both the broken bird cage and the sewing box with the dead bird in it. After final theatrical moment is when Ms. Hale hides the sew box in her coat so that the Court Attorney cannot get his hands on any evidence of Minnie killing Mr. Wright.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Trifles. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
The first example is the dead bird found by Ms. Hale and Ms. Peters. This is an image of how Mr. Wright has killed the old Minnie who loved to sing much like the bird. The Second image is the bird cage. It represents Minnie's mind and how Mr. Wright has taken control and has only left a empty shell of who she used to be. The third image is way Mr. Wright was killed. By using a rope with a noose Minnie could slowly drain the life from Mr. Wright, which is similar to how Mr. Wright slowly killed Minnie Foster.
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Trifles.
The main theme in Trifles is that women are seen as second class citizens at the time. They deserve to be respected and shown the same equality as men. Another theme of the play is that at that current period of time the judicial system of our country did not allow people that were not white males to have a fair unbiased judgement by both judge and jury of their peers.
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with Trifles? Is family redefined in Trifles?
Families are not always tied by blood, in fact the women in this play can be seen as a family in themselves. They help each other out in their time of need and each of them look out for on another.
The stasis at the beginning of Trifles is a cold farmhouse in 1918 Iowa. The house is owned by a Mr. and Mrs. Wright. With the Intention to ask the Wrights if they wanted a telephone installed in their home, Mr. Hale walks into their home. He sees Mrs. Wright in her rocking chair and is being very inhospitable and acting very weird. While talking to her, he finds out that Mr. Wright is dead up stairs by a noose around his neck. Mr. Hale runs upstairs to confirm what she had told him. Once he finds the body he contacts the Sheriff, and most likely a coroner. Mrs. Wright is taken to the jail while the Sheriff and Court Attorney investigate the house for evidence of who could have done this. As the men are looking for evidence upstairs we find out that the real main characters are the women Ms. Hale, and Ms. Peter. They are there to collect items requested by Mrs. Wright from the jail and to clean up the messy kitchen. They are the ones who actually end up finding the evidence hidden by Mrs. Wright, also known as Minnie Foster Wright.They are the ones who must decide if they should tell the Court Attorney and Sheriff about the evidence or try and help Minnie by disposing of the evidence.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play?
The intrusion is when Ms. Hale finds the dead bird wrapped up in the hidden sewing box. The dramatic action that developed overtime was the ladies hiding both the dead bird and the stitching on the quilts away from the Court Attorney and Sheriff. As the play continued on the Attorney kept asking what Minnie Foster Wright was doing to the quilts. Instead of telling the Court Attorney that her stitching was all over the place, they just told him that she was going to knot it. The Court Attorney couldn't care less about what she was going to do with it. In the end Ms. Hale hides the box in her coat so that the Court Attorney does not have any real evidence against Minnie Foster Wright. Because of the intrusion Ms. Hale was able to possibly save Minnie in her trial.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor which is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
The play takes place in 1918 rural Iowa. It is most likely winter time due to the Wright's house being cold on the inside. By setting the play in this location and time the audience can see how the cold and emptiness of the house can also be seen in Mrs. Wright. The main characters of Trifles see how different Minnie has become over the years because of Mr. Wright. She is a cold empty shell of herself. They realize this and can see where she was in distress and mostly snapped as they look at the stitching and wrapped up dead bird in her sewing box.
4. State the dramatic question or questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
The dramatic question in Trifles is a fairly simple one. Is there any evidence that can be used to connect Minnie Foster Wright to the death of her husband?
5. Use Ms. Hale to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is the dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Trifles the wants of Ms. Hale change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles for Ms. Hale.
Ms. Hale has to face both the me against myself and the me against society. At first she faces the me against myself obstacle. She must overcome her thoughts about how if she had just visited more often then maybe things would have turned out differently. She puts part of the blame on herself because she was scared to come visit the Wrights which probably made Minnie feel like she was all alone during her hard times. Ms. Hale also faces the me against society obstacle by realizing that if she gives the evidence to the Court Attorney then Minnie will face a unfair trial. She realizes that the society she is in favors men only. She overcomes this by hiding the evidence thus giving Minnie a chance to walk free.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. Identify the most theatrical moments in Trifles.
The first theatrical moment occurs when Mr. Hale finds the body of Mr. Wright with a noose around his neck. Followed by Ms. Hale and Ms. Peters finding both the broken bird cage and the sewing box with the dead bird in it. After final theatrical moment is when Ms. Hale hides the sew box in her coat so that the Court Attorney cannot get his hands on any evidence of Minnie killing Mr. Wright.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Trifles. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
The first example is the dead bird found by Ms. Hale and Ms. Peters. This is an image of how Mr. Wright has killed the old Minnie who loved to sing much like the bird. The Second image is the bird cage. It represents Minnie's mind and how Mr. Wright has taken control and has only left a empty shell of who she used to be. The third image is way Mr. Wright was killed. By using a rope with a noose Minnie could slowly drain the life from Mr. Wright, which is similar to how Mr. Wright slowly killed Minnie Foster.
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Trifles.
The main theme in Trifles is that women are seen as second class citizens at the time. They deserve to be respected and shown the same equality as men. Another theme of the play is that at that current period of time the judicial system of our country did not allow people that were not white males to have a fair unbiased judgement by both judge and jury of their peers.
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with Trifles? Is family redefined in Trifles?
Families are not always tied by blood, in fact the women in this play can be seen as a family in themselves. They help each other out in their time of need and each of them look out for on another.